Oh how I wish I were a tabloid journalist, just this once, just tonight. How I wish I had a licence to scream blue murder: "It was the Irish referee! It was the try that wasn't given! It was that inexplicable fifth penalty! WE WOZ ROBBED! CUETO WAS NOT IN TOUCH!"

But I don't, and we weren't, and he was. Just. Defeat is so much easier to accept when you can blame someone. South Africa deserve the Cup, and England can be proud, so proud, that they made such a fine job of defending their title. Their story has been one of the most memorable that sport has spun in recent years.

The one thing that stands out for me from this match at this moment, just seconds after the whistle has blown, was the extent to which both teams undid the reputations with which they'd come into the match. England were supposed to be the boring side, reliant on nothing but defence and a boot. South Africa, a variety of idiots told us, stood for everything that was wonderful about rugby.

That, it transpired, was garbage. South Africa produced one of the most grinding, clinical displays in memory. So much was made of the players in England's side who knew what it took to win the World Cup, and the advantage it might give them. It seems South Africa had a few, too - they must have watched that 2003 final very closely, because they were the side the most resembled the England team that won the title that year.

A superb line-out, an unyielding defence and five punished penalties. It was ruthless, merciless stuff, and it wins finals. England, meanwhile, ended up looking more like the 1991 team: throwing the ball this way and that, moving it through the back line to the wings and searching, desperately searching for that chink, that crack that would let them through. This tactical switch, seemingly instigated at half-time, is something that Brian Ashton and his side will be left to reflect on over the coming days.

Nonetheless, it was England, not South Africa, who were playing with verve and style, and it was South Africa who rode it out and took the cheap points.

The match was lost, though, in the space of just twenty minutes or so. After Matthew Tait's startling break, which the whole country had been waiting for ever since he came into this team, and that oh-so-long pause while the touch-down was played and replayed, the course of the result seemed to drift away into the wind. What a horrible moment that was, as the crowd roared its approval and the referee waited and waited, the feeling growing around the ground that, no, it wasn't going to be given.

Jason Robinson left the field 15 minutes later, and with Phil Vickery already off you felt that England were running out of leaders on the field. With Tait dropping back to full-back they lost one of their major attacking threats as well. Moments later came the fourth penalty, restoring the six-point lead. The fifth penalty was more galling still.

There was no way back, and the search for a solution became increasingly frantic, and less likely, until, with ten minutes to play Jonny Wilkinson missed a drop-goal from 40 yards out. No, it was not going to be England's night.

The teams are still huddled on the field. The England players have their hands on their hips, but it is very noticeable that their heads are not bowed. It is getting very hard to do type now, the Stade de Franceis awash with gold ticker-tape, and the sky is full of fireworks. The noise is unbelievable. And England are stood there clapping.

Despite my intentions, I seem to have spent most of this describing how hard done by England were. Were they? That will only become clear once the dust settles and the morning comes.

Certainly South Africa are worthy winners, and even if this wasn't the best possible ending to what has been an astonishing story to follow, they capped a fantastic World Cup - surely one of the best in any sport for a considerable length of time - with a ferociously passionate performance. Well done the Springboks. I just wish it wasn't so hard to type.

As I said, defeat is easier when you've someone to blame. It is easier still when you can appreciate and enjoy what it means for the team that beat you, and how well they had to play to do it.